COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • AUGUST 22, 2018 •
7A
Bohemian Film Fest screens 62 independent films
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Offering a break from the toga
party, there was the Bohemian
Film Festival.
Coinciding with the “Animal
House” celebration, the inaugural
Bohemian Film Festival showcased
62 films — ranging from two min-
utes to 109 minutes in length —
around town from Friday through
Sunday.
With the option of a weekend
pass, day pass or two-hours’ worth
of film-watching, over 250 people
took in various show times over
the course of the weekend.
“I think it actually ended up
better than I expected. You know,
my worst nightmare was having
three people in the audience, one
of them being the projectionist, the
other being the welcome person
and the other person taking the
tickets. That was my worst night-
mare,” said event organizer Len
Blackstone.
In the run-up to the first-year
festival, there were 183 film sub-
The festival had a number of
challenges into becoming a reality
but the biggest hurdle in their way
was time.
“We just pulled this off in three
“When you love something so much and you’re
able to share that — there’s not much more
in life more fulfilling then something that you
love. And I love this town.”
— Len Blackstone, event organizer
missions from 28 countries. The
winner for best film of the festival
and the $3,000 grand prize was
awarded to “Big Sonia,” which was
directed by Leah Warshawski. The
film is about a holocaust survivor
and looks at what that means and
the generational impacts it has.
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months and keep in mind this is
three months from zero. We had
no name, no domain site. We
hadn’t figured out the categories,
we hadn’t figured out the criteria
for judging,” said Blackstone. “So
I mean it was unbelievable. Long
weekends and nights, stuff like that
trying to get this thing together.”
There was a moment — and more
accurately, multiple moments —
when he was unsure if putting on
the festival was such a good idea.
“I literally remember like three
days after (deciding to do it) telling
my wife, ‘What am I thinking? Do
you think I can pull this off? We’re
going to pull this off? This is crazy.’
And we did, we pulled it off,” said
Blackstone.
In addition to wanting to create
an annual event and bring in busi-
ness to the area the Cottage Grove
resident of 33 years was driven to
provide something enjoyable for
the place that he calls home.
“When you love something so
much and you’re able to share that
— there’s not much more in life
more fulfilling then something that
you love. And I love this town,” he
said.
The event itself was able to make
it through any hiccups along the
way including a moment of panic
when no one could get the projec-
tor at the Opal Theater to operate.
After 15 minutes of a delay and
giving everyone in the room a per-
sonal apology, Blackstone dashed
home to grab a personal projector,
speakers and cords to make sure
that the show went on.
“And halfway up the road, my
daughter calls me and says, ‘Hey
dad, we just discovered there was
a switch that someone had acci-
dentally turned off. We covered it
in tape. Everything is going to be
fine,’” said Blackstone.
Mixing around ideas for the next
festival, Blackstone is hoping to
have next year’s event in Septem-
ber of 2019.
To provide feedback for the
event, Blackstone can be reached
at info@bohemianfestival.com.
Elkton to host annual Fort Umpqua Days
Interested in a weekend
full of fun activities, good
food, live music, and re-
enactors at historical Fort
Umpqua? Elkton is holding
its annual Fort Umpqua
Days celebration Sept. 1 and
2.
Most activities will take
place at the Elkton Com-
munity Education Center
(ECEC), located just west of
town at 15850 Highway 38.
A parade through town
on River Road kicks off the
event at 10 a.m. that Satur-
day morning.
A two-day bass tourna-
ment launches Saturday and
Sunday morning at 6 a.m.,
with weigh-in and awards
on Sunday afternoon at 3:30
p.m.
The Elkton Lion’s Club
will serve a pancake break-
fast starting at 7 a.m. each
day on the ECEC Green-
house Patio.
In addition, a barbecue
lunch will be provided by
the Elkton Baptist Church
from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. On
Saturday, there will be live
music starting at 11 a.m. fea-
turing The Slow Ponies, the
popular six-woman “cow-
girl band,” followed by the
highly-anticipated auction
of more than 50 homemade
pies at 1 p.m.
'Sunday’s lunch features
live music by Old Time Fid-
dlers.
ECEC’s
reconstruction
of historic Fort Umpqua,
the festival’s namesake, will
be filled with activities and
demonstrations throughout
homesteadcg.com
the weekend depicting life
at a Hudson’s Bay Company
fur trading post. 'Re-en-
actors in costume portray
characters from the mid-
1800s. Kids and adults alike
can take part in historic
themed activities at the Fort.
Both afternoons wrap up
with the 14th season of the
“Echoes of the Umpqua”
musical pageant. Each year
local residents write and
perform a rousing and en-
tertaining play that offers a
glimpse into Elkton’s histo-
ry.
This year’s production
tells the story of the historic
journey of the stern wheel-
er SWAN as it navigated
the Umpqua River in 1869.
Performances are held at the
ECEC Amphitheater, at 5
p.m.
Saturday’s pageant will be
followed by a chuck wagon
dinner at 6 p.m., provid-
ed by Brandborg Winery.
Diners and festival attend-
ees can stay and enjoy live
music by Contra Swing, a
fiddling and guitar playing
duo from Coos Bay.
All weekend, guests can
enjoy craft and food booths,
a native plant nursery, local-
ly grown produce, a display
of art quilts by Elkton Quil-
ters, the ECEC gift shop,
Outpost Café, an ice cream
social, antique bike display
and more.
Guests can also visit the
Butterfly Pavilion to “adopt”
a Monarch butterfly before
releasing it to begin its fall
migration.
ECEC is a nonprofit orga-
nization founded to provide
cultural, educational and
social activities to partici-
pants of all ages.
For more information,
please call 541-584-2692,
email in-fo @elktonbutter-
flies.com or visit www.elk-
tonbutterflies.com.
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